Blessing After Adversity

As I was preparing to teach the children's Bible lesson this morning (that's the part of their homeschooling I'm responsible for) I started to notice a pattern in the Scriptures. Once I noticed it I thought of other examples in Scripture and became further convinced of it's truth. Blessing comes after adversity.

Joseph was hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, lied about, put in prison, then the blessings came.

Years later a new Pharaoh came into power who enslaved all of Joseph's relatives (the Jews). Still under God's blessing, they increased in great number over 400 years, so much so that they were becoming a threat to Pharaoh. Moses was a baby when the order was given to kill the male Hebrew babies. Because of this he was sent down the river to save his life and ended up being raised by Pharaoh's daughter. It was she who gave him the name Moses by the way and, of course, it was Moses whom the Lord used to rescue His people from Egypt and give us the first five books of the Bible.

The blessing of the Promised Land came after the 40 years of wandering.

Samson's greatest defeat of the Philistines came after his capture and torture.

Ruth met Boaz (through whom would later come the Messiah) because she and Naomi had both became widows.

God led Samuel to anoint a new king (David) after Saul's disobedience. David was the greatest earthly king Israel ever had. And, of course, Jesus would later be his descendent and would even be referred to as the 'Son of David'.

Nebuchadnezzar blesses God only after Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the fiery furnace and miraculously rescued.

And, of course, the ultimate example of blessing coming after adversity is the cross of Christ. "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This seems to be a pattern in the Scriptures and it is of great encouragement to the saints. Blessing comes after adversity.